


The Fruits of Life

by lykxxn



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, Child Death Mention, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Mentions of Shooting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-22
Updated: 2015-03-22
Packaged: 2018-03-19 02:27:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3592893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lykxxn/pseuds/lykxxn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Sirius's death, a grieving Remus Lupin finds his closure in the form of an apricot tree.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Fruits of Life

Remus sat at the dining table, swilling the tea inside his cup. Life felt abnormal; empty almost. It was like he was a different person. Without Sirius, Remus Lupin ceased to exist. He didn’t like it at all. He felt constantly nauseated, almost as if, if anything else awful happened, he was going to throw up. The worst part was that it never went away, ever.

He could’ve been doing anything, anything in the world, and suddenly it would jolt in his mind that Sirius was dead.

Slowly he rose from his seat and made to put his half-empty cup into the sink. He lifted his head slightly, noting the abysmally grey weather outside. The window was steamy, although he’d not been cooking of any sort. Sighing, he made his way into the hallway, and retrieved his coat from its hook. Who cared where he was going; he just had to get out.

Remus shoved his hands in his pockets and, with a confident sigh, opened the front door. It was cloudy and he could see the beginnings of rain splat onto the ground. He took his key from his pocket and locked the door. He could never be too safe.

Remus took a few deep breaths before going down the street, avoiding looking at the identical red-bricked houses. Everything was the same. It wasn’t any different than it had been. There was nothing to show that Remus had changed; that something had changed in his life.

Remus found himself stopping at the end of the road. The great tree opposite stared back at him, and Remus swallowed his emotions, forcing himself to walk forward.

Less than a month ago, there had been a small boy playing amongst its branches, and he had been shot and killed by a madman brandishing a gun. Remus ran his hand over the holes in the tree, no doubt caused by the bullets in its trunk. Slowly he raised his head, and that was when he noticed the orange fruits growing from the tree’s branches.

Even the tree had continued to live, despite the wounds in its trunk. The boy’s parents had continued to live; the boy’s siblings had continued to thrive.

Only Remus had stopped living. He had been so consumed in his grief over Sirius’s death that he had forgotten what there was to live for.

Carefully he plucked one of the ripest apricots from the branch and took a bite.

These were his fruits of life.


End file.
